


For Club and Country

by empireofourown_100



Category: Portrait de la jeune fille en feu | Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Football | Soccer, Rivalry, Slow Burn, US Women's Soccer National Team, at least not yet ;), mature mostly for language don't get too hot and bothered, strap on your boots its a soccer AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:14:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26587198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/empireofourown_100/pseuds/empireofourown_100
Summary: Heloise Durand is a goalkeeper for the Portland Thorns, Marianne Read is a striker for the Utah Royals. They are diametrically opposed enemies on the pitch until they both get called up to the national team to represent the US at the FIFA Women’s world cup. Can they put aside their club rivalry and work together to achieve victory for their country?
Relationships: Héloïse/Marianne (Portrait of a Lady on Fire)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 24





	For Club and Country

**Author's Note:**

> This idea was suggested in a comment on one of my other works and I couldn't resist. If soccer's not your thing you might still like it there won't be much gameplay in the next few chapters. Seriously no update schedule promises I'm got a couple of other ideas I'm working on too. I just can't keep my mind or pen off these two!

“I’m gonna kill her!” Heloise fumed ripping her gloves off as she stormed into the locker room, “Where does she get off coming into my net and grabbing a ball, everyone knows only the keeper handles the god damned ball!”

“Ease up tamale, it was Christen’s 100th NWSL goal you knew they were gonna keep it,” Tobin said coming over to pat Helosie’s shoulder as she threw herself down on the bench.

“Well, then Press can come to get it herself eh? That woman has paid her dues and she’s welcome in my net any time if you know what I mean, but Marianne Read can take her number one draft pick and shove it up her own ass until she has learned some manners.” Heloise continued to fume. 

“Hey now watch it,” Tobin said, wagging a teasing finger in Heloise’s face, “that’s my roomie you’re ogling.”

“That just means you know better than most that she’s fine as hell.” Heloise countered without missing a beat.

Tobin shoved Heloise’s head playfully, earning herself a middle finger from the keeper, but it was accompanied but a wide grin and Tobin knew her mission of breaking Heloise’s rage and bringing her back to center had been accomplished. 

The coach came down the tunnel clapping as she approached her players having finally escaped the media and immediately started in on tactics. She was furious about the number of shots on goal the Press-Read combo was generating and was determined to shake things up in the second half.

They trotted back onto the field a short time later with a new plan and a substitution to bring in a holding midfielder. Heloise was happy with the new formation and jumped around in goal, kicking high and swinging her arms to loosen her muscles. Her eyes were drawn to the opposing side as the Royals lined up. They appeared to be coming with the same lineup they used in the first half without any substitutions, which came as no surprise to Héloïse since it had produced almost a dozen shots on goal and 2 that had hit the back of the net to her disgust. Marianne winked at her when she caught Heloise looking, then redirected her gaze to the referee who was placing the ball in the center circle. 

Heloise rolled her eyes and dropped into a crouch as she waited for the whistle, muscles tense and ready to spring. The Royals started with a quick back-pass and threw numbers forward but immediately had a long ball cut off by the pressure of the Thorns’ new box formation. ‘This is gonna work!’ Heloise thought excitedly as she started shouting for her defenders to press high. ‘This is definitely going to work!’ 

Rain began to fall with 20 minutes still to play and the battle for possession transformed into a battle to simply stay on one's feet. Heloise hated playing in the rain. The water did weird things to physics making balls curve in ways they shouldn’t. It also meant normally precise and deadly accurate players made bad connections that were almost harder to defend than regular shots due to their unpredictability.

Heloise’s eyes flew to the referee at the sound of a shrill whistle; penalty Utah. “Damn it!” She cursed loudly before checking the clock: 84:31. Still plenty of time for chaos to reign. Horan was trying to challenge the call saying the slick turf had caused the penalty not an intentional high-block on her part, but the ref was having none of it; a free-kick was given.

Her team lined up in the wall with spirits low and anger high. Heloise knew they’d do their best to deflect the kick, but with the penalty spot so close to the box it was likely that the Royals would opt to sail the ball over them completely and take a shot directly on goal. It’s what they would do if positions were reversed. Heloise crouched low, barely off her line, trying to see the approach angle of the kicker. 

The whistle sounded and the shot did sail high, almost too high but she wasn’t about to chance it. Heloise sprang almost straight up fully extending arms and core to just get her fingers onto the ball and pop it over the crossbar. She landed a bit awkwardly, tipped forward, but regained her balance in stride and straightened up just in time to see Marianne barreling toward her. The striker slowed, but not enough, and bounded straight up to Heloise placing her hands onto the keeper’s stomach to steady herself. 

“Nice one,” Marianne said with a lopsided grin, “you almost make it look easy.” 

Heloise was shocked by both the casual compliment from her rival and the warm hands still pressed against her abs. ‘Head games, she’s trying to break my concentration,’ Heloise thought with annoyance. “Eh thanks,” she said taking a half-step back, “try making it a challenge next time I’m falling asleep back here.” 

Marianne’s eyes narrowed and she dropped her hands tracking back to take her position for the corner kick. Most of the Royals arrayed themselves around the near post, but Heloise noticed Marriane hovering just outside the box in her periphery. “Lindsey!” She yelled in desperation, pointing toward Marianne, but she was too late and there was no time to adjust cover. The kick was taken and Marrianne was completely open. She got her head on the ball and it came rocketing toward Heloise who dove left, gloved hand extended. She was falling too fast and was forced to arch her torso skyward hoping to buy some centimeters back. 

She felt the ball ricochet off her and smiled, then her ribs collided with the ground and her breath rushed out of her lungs as water splashed up into her face. The pain forced tears to her eyes, but there was no time to assess the damage now. She scrambled back to her feet trying to find the rebounded ball in the chaos before her. 

There! At the feet of Tziarra King. She called for back up on the left side as she tucked her elbow protectively against her side. It began to throb and heat radiated from the point of contact. ‘Please don’t be broken,’ She thought knowing that the only treatment for broken ribs was rest. Tziarra duked, but couldn’t shake her defender, she dropped the ball off to Marianne who spun and cut inside clearing her path to the gaol. 

“CLOSE!!” Heloise hollered. Just when it looked like no one could get there Menges made a risky sliding tackle that sent the ball flying wide right, away from Marianne and the goal where it was collected by another Thorns defender and cleared. Heloise relaxed a little but was alarmed to see captain Rocky Rodriquez trotting toward her rather than jumping on the counter-attack with the rest of the team. “You alright Pikachu?!” Rocky called, “That looked like a nasty landing!” 

“We’ll find out in 7 minutes!” Heloise shouted back making it abundantly clear that injured or not she had no intention of leaving the pitch before the final whistle was blown. Rocky nodded and turned back toward her team. “FOUR BACK!” she shouted, drawing the attention of the defending half of their squad. “I want a 4-3-3 for the remainder! Nothing gets past the backline! Nothing!” 

‘Overprotective mother-bear,’ Heloise thought with no real malice as she gingerly pressed at her left side, hissing as the ache increased, but there were no pin-prick, sharp pains and Heloise decided she had probably escaped with just bruising. The goal coach stepped up as close the sideline as was allowed concern etched on her face. 

“I’m alright!” Heloise shouted.

“You’d say that if a javelin was sticking out of your chest!” the coach shouted back. 

Heloise grinned, “tiz but a flesh wound!” 

The coach shook her head but walked back to the bench appeased. The Thorns held possession of the ball and played into the corners to run off the clock. The coach made two staggered substitutions to run off even more time and finally, the full-time whistle blew. Zion Bank Stadium erupted in cheers as they celebrated the home team victory. The Royals had taken them 3-1. ‘I’ll stop you next time Marianne,’ Heloise thought as she was engulfed by the team trainers.


End file.
